AN Nature ature Book Reader
BEN MYERS Man of letters
Walden; or Life In The Woods by Henry David Thoreau
Forget Moby Dick, Huckleberry Finn or The Leaves Of Grass, Walden is the single most important book in early American literature. When he took to the woods of Concord, Massachusetts in 1845 armed with little more than an axe and a desire to observe nature at the closest of quarters Henry David Thoreau can’t have imagined the effect this “experiment in simple living” would have on the world. Walden Pond was Thoreau’s muse, and in its surroundings he found a way of life and philosophy that formed a blueprint for living. Walden found Thoreau seeking sanctuary in the simple things – the things we miss when our eyes and ears are trained elsewhere: nature’s soundtrack, the
changing face of his beloved pond and seasonal wildlife. From his self-made cabin in the woods, Thoreau explored anarchism, civil disobedience and transcendentalism via the day-to-day tasks required to existent in harmony with ones surroundings. And in observing that “I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude” he inspired generations of hermits, conservationists, hippies and free-thinkers the world over.
Further Reading The Shining Levels by John Wyatt
The Poacher’s Handbook by Ian Niall